Christin Khan is currently flying for the NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center right whale aerial survey team based out of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. She has previously led right whale aerial surveys with Wildlife Trust and the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies. Christin completed her Master of Science in Biology at San Francisco State University with research on vocal development in harbor seals; her work was published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Rescuers disentangle whale off Provincetown!

Cape Cod Times articleBy Mary Ann Bragg

September 28, 2009 2:59 PM

"PROVINCETOWN - Whale rescuers cut away rope from a North Atlantic right whale Saturday just outside Provincetown Harbor after the crew of a local whale watch company reported the entanglement.

The right whale, born in 2008 to a right whale labeled 1321 among whale researchers, had rope wrapped around its head and mouth, potentially impeding its ability to feed, said Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies spokeswoman Tanya Grady.

The crew of the Dolphin Fleet of Provincetown reported the whale in distress. A team of rescuers from the center freed it from the rope with help from the Provincetown harbormaster's office and the Provincetown station of the U.S. Coast Guard, Grady said.

So far this year, the center's rescuers have untangled two right whales, three humpback whales and eight leatherback sea turtles - all protected species under federal guidelines. The rescuers operate with federal permits and federal and state grants.

A majority of right whale deaths are from entanglements with fishing gear, Grady said. Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod Bay are designated critical habitats for North Atlantic right whales."